Benavidez Turned Down The Crawford Fight – ‘That’s Duck Talk’
David Benavidez turned down the offer to fight Terence Crawford.
The Mexican Monster claimed Turki Alalshikh wanted him to fight the former Undisputed Welterweight Champion at 160 pounds. That would require Benavidez to move down from 168 pounds while Crawford would move up two weight classes from 147. The fight was seen as an alternative to the Canelo Alvarez bout since the Undisputed Super Middleweight Champion chose to fight Jaime Munguia on May 4 instead.
Benavidez had been linked with the Canelo fight since he is the WBC Interim Super Middleweight Champion. He has had that belt for over two years. However, the WBC has not called the mandatory, nor has Canelo indicated any intention to vacate the belts. The WBC has also not stripped Alvarez, leaving the Mexicans to fight Munguia. A Crawford-Benavidez fight would have been a precursor to the winner, potentially fighting Canelo. While that may have been the case, Benavidez rejected it because he had not made that weight for some time.
Benavidez On Crawford
“I had talked to Turki. They had wanted me to fight in August. I told them, ‘I’m with PBC. We got this big card [on June 15th].’ So, I think that was just the conversation of opening the doors that this might be a reality that we could make this happen. We never got to that point. He did mention to me one fighter. He wanted me to go down to 160 and fight Crawford. I said, ‘Bro, I cannot do that.’ If I was able to make 160, that would be amazing, but I can’t. [And] I don’t remember the last time I weighed 160. I would love to share the ring with him but not at 160,” Benavidez said
The Mexican Monster will instead box Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the WBC Light Heavyweight Interim Belt on June 15. The winner becomes the mandatory for either Artur Beterbiev or Dimitry Bivol. Beterbiev and Bivol fight on June 1 for all the belts at 175. Benavidez would then have a decision to make. He could pursue his mandatory position at 168 or do the same at 175. The governing rules prevent boxers from having weight titles in different weight classes. But based on Benavidez’s comments, he is keen to stay at 175, as he was confident of beating Gvozdyk.
Benavidez At 175
“After this fight [Oleksandr Gvozdyk], the victory is going to put me as the #1 contender for the winner of that [Bivol vs. Beterbiev], and that’s what we’re going for. Right now. we’re 100% focused on Oleksandr. He’s a great fighter. We’re not overlooking him. We’re going to take care of him and it’s on to the next. These guys [the Saudis] are trying to make big fights happen. That card [August 3rd] is flame.
“That whole card is fire. Now that they’re coming over here, we’re mixing fighters. You’ve got all the PBC fighters fighting on their card. The next couple of years coming up is probably going to be the best years in boxing that we’ve seen in the last decade. We’re now getting in the space of boxing where it should have been all along,” Benavidez stated
Benavidez will have to avoid coming up short. This is the first time he is fighting at 175 pounds, meaning he can expect to face bigger hitters. He also has the pressure to perform, knowing that he has moved past the Canelo fight. But if Benavidez wins and eventually becomes undisputed at 175, it is a risk that will have paid off.
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